Lossing Feathers
by Wanna-be Artist
Summary: Saphire finds his world turned upside down by forces he never imagened. Now with Shabranigdo, too, knocking at his door, will he lay down his life to him, or even with out anything to lean on will he go on with life?


Losing Feathers  
  
A cold draft drifted though the room even though the fire burned with the sighs of dieing in the next hour. Caught in the shadows was a well respected man in his mid twenties. The light glair of fire light hit his off white blond hair as he sat in the chair motionless. His aqua toned eyes looked aimlessly to the floor was a few stay tears fall down his face. The cold rain's wind didn't budge him from his set or make him move in any manner at all. The fairly new cabin lightly creaked with the winds gentle motion. The house, too, did morn for this man's loss, for this house was made for what was lost.  
  
Reflection was echoing though the man's glittering eyes. He wondered was there anything he could have done.? Anything at all...even if it was from the beginning. Where did he go wrong?  
  
It all started when he was just a child. He and his mother and father, two very carrying people in his life, moved to a count little village off the edge of their nation's borders. Foot mounts lay to the north while the darker side of the planet lay to the east. It wasn't the safest place to hold up a family, but their family where asked by the lord of their region to move. He was still too young to understand why, but he didn't argue with them.  
  
They settled down in the village quite well. His father became a steel and black smith, while his mother sowed large and beautiful tapsters along with many other things. He was only eight at the time. His mother unrolled him in a small school that would teach him how to read, write and do mathematic equations. That's when he first saw the love of his life. She sat across from him in the small school house. He had no idea that one day their arms would be locked.  
  
As they became older, he and she became close friends. He would go help pick flowers for her mother to make floral arrangements while she would help him shear sheep and spin wool into thread for his mother.  
  
One particular day, he and the young woman, by now, sat and rest near a creek far into the woods. He leaned against a tree while she knelt down to drink. The place was beautiful. It was more beautiful then anything he had ever seen. He didn't even notice her staring at him by the creek's bed. Her soft laughter had taken his day dreaming out of the clouds and brought it back to her.  
  
"What where you thinking about, Sapphire?" She asked with a gentle and soft tone. He thought about her question for a moment, for he couldn't really put into words what he was thinking.  
  
Finally, the words came to him. He looked to her with a cunning smile while brushing the blond locks off his shoulder. "I was just thinking about how beautiful this forest is. It reminds me so much of your own personal beauty." She blushed brightly to his soft words. Her head turned away quickly to the waters in front of her. "Cygnus?" He got up from his place and walked over to her, and gently put a hand on her shoulder. "Did I say something wrong?"  
  
She turned to him with glassed over eyes. She placed a hand over his soft face. He blushed a little as well as he looked to her in slight confutation. "Kiss me," she whispered. He didn't know how to respond to her request. He had never kissed anyone before, but he was willing to try. That kiss that beautiful sealed their fate together. Then, with that tinder display of affection, he knew he loved this girl he met in a school house six years before.  
  
She broke the kiss and embraced him tightly. "Promise me that nothing will come between us," she bagged.  
  
"I would die before anything did." A tear rolled down her face as she smiled. The very first promise he ever made to her, and he would break it only a handful of years later. "Hey, Cygnus!" he said more chipper this time, "Wouldn't it be great if we lived here?"  
  
She nodded in excitement as she looked at the natural beauty around her. "It's a beautiful dream."  
  
He stood and took her hands into his and started to dance as if the wind and small brook where their only music. She laughed lightly to his soft feet and smooth yet gentle motions. "We can live out here away from everyone." He took her waist into one hand and let his other fly out into the air to help his balance. Centering himself on the ground to insure his skill, he gently flung her over his arm to where she was now completely at his biding. She relaxed in his arms with a smile. "No one would tell us what to do. it would be just you and I in a cottage out in the middle of a forest." She smiled up at him. She didn't say anything to his dreams, but her smile was all he needed.  
  
She grabbed his shirt to help herself up, but in doing so, she helped herself down. The careful chemistry he put into balancing her was now lost when she pulled on him. He was pulled forward. Both of them knew there doom when this happened. Both gave off a hardy gasp. Sapphire knew there was no way to stop the descent so he let her go and places his hands on either side of her to make sure that he would not fall on her. She winced slightly as she fell onto the grassy bed. He looked down to her in concern.  
  
"Are you okay?" He asked. Cygnus finally opened her eyes. When she did she blushed to see him over her, but it was short lived. To over ride her embarrassment she laughed. After a moment of confusion he too had a flash of warmth go across his face. He moved and sat beside her as they both laughed at their embarrassment.  
  
There where many days like that, he thought back on. Sapphire and Cygnus where together forever. That was just the day that marked it. He waited till she was of age. After all he was a little bit older then she was, but they both knew it was going to happen. She was just waiting on him, as was the rest of the village. He could feel the tinchen in her family and other people in the village. There was a pragudis against him for reasons he didn't know or could not understand. This is why she made him promise. She felt something inside him that he could not feel himself. She never let it bother her. That's what made her much more spechel then anyone else that belonged in that village.  
  
There was a small surprise celebration at Cygnus' house one evening. He wasn't invited in, but that was fine. He had just came back from the welder's house that night when he noticed the lights and sounds coming from Cygnus's house. He held a small token in his hand as he rushed over to the house. Knowing that he wasn't invited, he knew that there was no chance of sneaking in. It was had to sneak in with the blond hair he had and the unique stile he had it pulled back in and the stains of hair that floated in his face. He liked it that way all the same. He just wished he had clips to put on the end of his hair to keep it from scattering everywhere.  
  
The night was fresh with the smell of a afternoon spout of rain that came that came really one. The night sky was just now starting to show its colors. It was that that point in the day where everything had a beautiful blue hue to it. His stage was set and ready to go.  
  
He walked up to the window and looked in. The house was cluttered with people, but he saw no one but her. She was standing not far from the window talking to her father. He taped on the window to try and get her attichen. It didn't get her attichin, but rather unwanted attichen by other people. They shot him dirty looks and started to mumble. Some one close by her must have michened his name. She stopped her chat with her father to start to look for him. He waved in to the window till she saw him. Her dull complaction lit up at the sight of him. She moved though the crowd as quickly as she could to get to the door.  
  
He stood there at the door, waiting for her. When they met, she took a hold of his hands and smiled. "I am so glad you could make it." He only smiled and led her into the street a little ways. She fallowed his led with question. She finally felt the token he carried in his hand. She looked to him with a gasp. "Sapphire. what's that in your hand?" He only smiled.  
  
By this time a crowd was gathered around the two. He let one hand go and griped the remanding one. His crystal blue eyes, as clear as the evening sea, looked into hers. "You're 18 now, right?" He asked gently. She nodded with a stunned look frozen on her face. "In that case, let me offer you my gift."  
  
She cupped her mouth with her free hand as she saw him kneel in the muddy ground below them. She tugged at his arm a few times, trying to get him to stand. "Sapphire! You're going to get all dirty."  
  
"Cygnus. will you take this small token for a birthday gift?" He opened his hand in front of her. There where two gold rings that where tied with a small red ribbon. She looked to it with another gasp. Her eyes where wet with tears as she looks back to her childhood best friend. A smile came about her face as the tears fell. She fell into the mud with him and gave him a warm embrace.  
  
"Oh chouse!" She yelled between deep breaths. He embraced her with a smile. His eyes closed as he took in this moment. "You're all muddy." He said halfway mocking her. She gave him a light hug in the back.  
  
"You started it." She said back, but both in a playful tone. Behind them they could hear the light sound of clapping. Sapphire didn't know what to make of it. Either they where truly happy for the two, or they where doing it for the sake of her. She looked around her at the group of people in the house. Her mother was crying in joy while her father looked deeply upset. Everyone else was in happy glee, or putting on a good act.  
  
Both went there separate was that night. Cygnus was rejoined by her family while Sapphire went home. The fallowing day, he decided to work hard on his wedding gift for her as she would in another mouth. First, she needed to convene her parents that Sapphire wasn't this visous beast that put a kind covering over him. Her father still refused to agree but for his daughter's happiness, he decided to give his blessing.  
  
The end of spring came and summer was soon approaching. The chouse s sunny but cool day when the rains had stopped and the sun dried out the land. The birds sang beautifully and the leaves on the trees where aspashly great that day. It was decided that it would be a garden ceremony for more then one reason, but reasons that Sapphire where not aware of.  
  
Everything was done with persition. Nothing could go wrong. Sapphire's hair was very well brushed by his mother and Cygnus's was braded and pined up with flowered wavered though the ties. There where no objections and they where wed with cheers and rice. As soon as they would let them free, Sapphire dashed off into the forest, caring his beloved in his arms, to show off his wedding gift that to him two mouths to build with his father's help.  
  
There by the stream was a log cabin, built to perfection. Once Sapphire put her down and positioned her in the right place, he ran to the house it's self and yelled out for her to open her eyes. Her face was priceless.  
  
"Oh, Sapphire." She muttered breathlessly. Sapphire stood with his breath held as he awaited her terle exception. "It's beautiful!"  
  
"Well," he breathed, "I am glad you liked it. I remember our fantasy of having a house back here. When I could get a chance, I did configurations on it for the last year."  
  
"And then built is soon after our engagement." She said with a gleaming smile. Before long, he found her wrapped around his arms after she flung herself there. "You didn't have to go-"  
  
"But I wanted to." He whispered. She looked up at him. Her eyes sparkled though the tree branches that gave to the sun. Sapphire looked down to his beautiful bride in his arms. Time stood still for them as they took in the moment with a kiss.  
  
She broke away with a hand to his lips as she smiled lightly and looked down. "your gift won't be done till the end of the mouth." She softly apologized. "Or later then that. He had a lot of back up orders. along with the broken clock on the square."  
  
"Don't worry with it. He can take his time. Having you is my best wedding gift." He replied happily. They where kept into compete silent between the two. Here loving enbrase was warmed by the sun.  
  
The first mouth seemed to go by well. Both Sapphire and Cygnus brought all there belongings over to the cabin made for three. He hunted for there food while she grow a garden for other food. She couldn't cook all that well so Sapphire did most of the cooking. Both the set of parents and her siblings came to visit them often the first mouth before they faded away to seldom visits and Sapphire's desertion.  
  
Just after the sun rose into the sky that morning, he prepared to go out, as he did once a week, but this was different. He went out the day before. She rose soon after he put on his boots and siped on his sleeveless shirt.  
  
"Where are you heading to today, Hun?" She asked tiredly.  
  
"Well, I was going to the town to buy some spices for our food. I know the garden don't hold up well with the creachers coming and feeding at it." He explained. She looked a bit surprised to him. She walked over to the chair he was in and knelt so they would be almost eye to eye.  
  
"But we don't have any money." She replied very worried. Her worry increased as he didn't stop getting ready. Her soft hand grasped onto his to stop his work. This forced him to look to her. "How are you going to get things if we have no money?" That's when he smiled to her.  
  
"I am going to get a small part time job once or twice a week to gain enough money for things that we need from the town, including maybe a few new dresses when the once you have ware out." She sighed lightly, looking away from her husbands face. "Please don't do that. I feel guilty enough having to leave your more then I do."  
  
"I know." She breathed. "It's just that dream we had."  
  
"We where young, Cygnus. Thoughs dreams where not a reality." He tried to console. "Besides, it's not like I am going to be out every day. We can still live away from them."  
  
She slowly looked back to him with a glimmer of a smile. "Really?"  
  
He nodded to her to confirm. "Really," With that, she jumped up and hugged him tightly. He smiled and hugged her in return.  
  
When he reached the village of his youth, he noticed, right away, how leery people where of him. He had almost forgotten about it. He tried his best to innor it the best he could instead of going with this incredible urge to brake out into anger. He came to look for a job, and that was all.  
  
It was not as easy as he had hoped it would be. By mid day he received one odd job that wouldn't last long. He promised the storekeeper that he would be back the fallowing day. With what little money he had from his wedding, he bought a little something to eat and headed home.  
  
As he approached the cabin not long after, he saw the door open. He felt his heart skip a beat as he immediately assumed that some one came into the house uninvited and left the door open. His lovely wife turned to him and smiled completely unaware of his agzite breath.  
  
"Did you run home?" She saw him sigh lightly in relief. He didn't give a real answer. He just came to her, with his small paper bag, and gave her a gentle hug. She was a bit surprised by this and hugged him back. "I left the door open to tell you, when you come home from work, that you're welcome."  
  
"I see." He said with a smile as he backed away from her. "I bought us home something so you don't have to worry with cooking too much tonight." She smiled as they both anchously waited for him to open the paper bag. There where two considerably small slabs of salmon wrapped in paper. She hugged him fightly.  
  
"We could have caught some in the brook out back."  
  
"Yes, but they are all young and lack good meat." He commented skillfully as he rubbed the skin of one slab. "This one is very pink in the middle and the best part is we won't have to gut, de-bone, or clean it. It's ready to cook."  
  
"You're right," She whispered as she looked to the slabs, "as you always are."  
  
The week was much like that one day. For three days he would go in early to the shop and do odd and end jobs for the woman that cared for the store till rumors built up and he was asked to leave. Pay wasn't good either. The fallowing week he went for two days asking for work, but there was nothing till the third day he was offered to model for men's armory as a man and woman made it. He was about the same build as the frequent traveling swordsman and the such. The job lasted a little longer then the store, but, as did the store, rumors floated around and people buying the mercedice would complain about him being the man that was the first to ware it. He never understood people's malice for him. He never did anything to hurt anyone, nor would he ever one to, but they seem to want to hurt him by putting him out of work.  
  
This went on for three mouths. He would be herased at work, no matter what work he was at, forced to abandon the job as week or so after started it, and look for another. Regardless of the hell like days he would have, the walk home always made him fell better. When he saw that door open he couldn't help but smile. If no one in that village, save his parents, didn't care for him she did, and to him, that was all that mattered. By working, he was able to make money to buy her things that would make their like a little bit easier. That made it worth it to him.  
  
Once all the work as existed around him, he made his way to the temple on the west bank of the village. The morning sun made the white building seem to be burning with reds and yellows as the morning sun hit it. When coming to this holy place, he felt both confert and pain. Something in his soul seemed to find it's self at ease in a place like this, but something in his chest cringed in desused.  
  
When he inquired about a job, a priest in training took him to the high priest who was advised in his years. He was asked to sit at a table on the floor not far from the old man. Sapphire did as she was told and listened very carefully to him. He has a very soft voice.  
  
"It's good to see someone such as yourself in a place like this." he muttered between him wrinkled lips. "Most disturbed souls, such as your self, would never make it to a holy temple." Sapphire remained quite as he listed, but he didn't understand the man. He didn't consider himself to be a disturbed soul of any sort. "So," the elderly priest breathed, "what beings you here..?"  
  
"I am looking for work, sir." Sapphire said boldly. The priest small slants for eyes opened a little wider as he heard him. "The town's people have shunned me off for seemingly no reason and now I have no way to support my wife, or children if we plan to have any."  
  
"I see." he muttered as he set an old hand on the table. "You are a strong fellow, are you not.?"  
  
"I am sir." Sapphire muttered back. "I built the house my wife and I live in now."  
  
"Good. You see, I am very old and I don't get out very much because I can't carry my own tools. My priest to take my place when I pass on does most of my work already, though I felt guilty." He explained. "If I had a young fellow to help me with my tools and help me from falling, I could take back my job." Sapphire began to smile as he heard the man's words. "Here, you won't be shunned, and maybe the town's people will feel better about your troubled soul once you are seen doing pure work."  
  
"Thank you, sir!" Sapphire exclaimed. He set his hand on the soft wrinkly skin of the old man's hand and felt how fragile the aged man really was. "I will work my best, but can we start tomorrow?" He asked.  
  
The old sage nodded. "When ever you want to, young man." Sapphire stood up and bowed to the man once before leaving in a better mood then he has for the last three mouths. Maybe now he could have a job he could enjoy.  
  
The next morning, he felt the loving arms of his wife wrap around his neck as he was buttoning up his shirt. He smiled to her even though she could not see him. She knew regardless. He stopped buttoning his shirt to take a hand and put it over her arms where they came together in the middle. It was a peaceful moment before she spoke. She knew once she did, he would resume getting ready and the moment would be lost.  
  
"Where did you find this time? Didn't you say something about the temple..?" She asked softly.  
  
"Ah, yes." He answered simply. "The priest was happy to let me have work." She pulled her arms away and started to run her hands though his dirty blond locks. His hair came a little below his ears and was think for some one with blond hair. She loved the long strands that set in front of his face.  
  
"But that's what you said about the others." She commented skeptically. He took one of her hands and drew her around him and set her on his lap. She had a questionable face while he smiled gently.  
  
"People seem not to like me for some reason." His voice was softer; almost as if he was fade some one would hear him. "I can't keep a job because of how people talk about me in the town."  
  
"I don't see why." She answered back in the same tone. Her forehead wrinkled a bit as she tried to understand. "You are one of the kindest men I have ever met."  
  
"He said it had to do with my, 'troubled soul.' I am really unsure what he means by this." He stopped for a moment as he glanced down in thought before he looked back at her. His river blue eyes sparked in the dim morning sunlight. "Do you know..?"  
  
"I." She stock quickly but stopped her works as if she where chocking on them. He gently urged her to work them out, but she grow nervous. Finally she shock her head and looked back to him. "You have a feel around you. I always though it was superstition, but it's as if evil eyes set on you." With slight tear in her eyes, she tried hard to finish. He grasped his hand tightly. "I don't see how it can be. You are such a sweet person."  
  
He looked to her in concern as her small grip tightened around him. He pulled his other hand around her shoulder and pulled her to him till she was leaning on him. She summated to his will but was a bit surprised by his repoins, and then felt guilty to feel the way she did.  
  
"Father told me to never tell you." Her voice and hands slightly shock as she spoke to him. He quickly became baffled, but remanded converting as he stocked her head. "He said." she muttered between tears, "that you would turn against me, or something. You would turn into a beast." Sapphire was taken back by her words. He tightened his grip on her very gently as he cuddled her. His eyes closed, letting only the sound of the brook out back and the gentle breeze be the sounds that flooded there minds. He pained him dearly to think that she would withhold information like this because he was scared of him hurting her in some way.  
  
"I would never hurt you." He whispered in a soothing voice. "I love you too much to ever do you any harm."  
  
The moment was lost when the sunlight blared into the window and Sapphire realized what time it had become. He gently let her up even though he was pained to leave her in the state she was in now, but he didn't want to lose his new job.  
  
"I'll be home around the late afternoon, okay?" She nodded lightly to his words as she sat down in the chair that he once occupied. He came over to her and kissed her on the forehead lightly before rushing away. She just sat in a daze till he was out of sight.  
  
He came to his new place of work with a smile. He was willing to let all the former problems malt away from him. As he made it down the hall he found the older priest being helped by two priests to try to meet him. He quickly walked over to them and took the older priest to help support him. The two younger ones looked as if they where going to die by his weight.  
  
"Are you okay, sir?" Sapphire asked quickly.  
  
"Oh yes." the old man machined softly. "I wanted to try to meet you at the steps, but I see your young lags have carried you much faster." Both gave light chuckles to end the small tenchen in the air. "You are Sapphire, right..?" He asked and Sapphire agreed. "I am Uasal. I am glad to have your services." Sapphire was incradbly pleased with this man's kind heart and exceptive to him being there. He was very pleased.  
  
He clamed this small nothing job for a full mouth now. The summer had ended and it was close to fall by now. He learned much from his old working mate. This kind man thought him how to dispel a person, a bit of healing and freeze ones motions for the time being. The old man told him that all the skills where very useful and everyone should learn them.  
  
Right before winter the high priest would go and visit every home in the village and give blessings. If there was evil abounding, then it was his job to destroy it before the pure snow flushed the ground. It was an existing time for Sapphire as well. He was being paid a little more for this because he wasn't only helping the old priest walk and carry his things, but he would also become his body guard.  
  
He woke up the night before in a cold sweat. He looked to his lovely wife, a bit worried before moving out of the bed. The night was cold as the winter air was slowly setting in again. He sipped on a fur from a deer to keep him warm for the moment as he thought over the horrible vision he had.  
  
Before long he was joined by Cygnus. She sat down beside him on the floor and handed him a cup of tea. "Feeling okay, dear?"  
  
He looked to her and took the hot tea into his hands with a smile. He looked into the mug in thought for a moment. "Just a bad dream, that's all." He said as quietly as he could. Something about the night made him want to keep quite even though there was nothing he could wake where they lived. "Sorry for waking you."  
  
"You didn't." The both sat and the quite as they though about each others words. Finally, she spoke up again. "Mind telling me about your dream..?" He nodded and agreement but took a long sip of his cooling hot water before speaking.  
  
"I was here in the cabin thinking about how the walls needed color." He began blankly. This was a common thought between the two. The walls seemed very bland. "So, I went into the other room and pulled a bowl up with blood and started to paint the walls." His voice became increasingly softer as he kept on. At the end, he was chocked up and slightly shacking. Cygnus looked to him very conserned. Just as she began to say something he turned to her and smiled. "Don't worry about it. It's not important. It's just a dream."  
  
She gave a gentle hug with a smile. "You are gist nervous about the fall festivals and purification." She justified. "That bring to mind, you are gone almost every day for late hours." She stopped for a moment and looked down, almost feeling selfish to ask for such a thing. "Well. Are you going to be around more after this.?"  
  
Suddenly anxiety flushed over him. He let this job some what get away with him, but he smiles. "Yes. Matter of fact I will request the priest to let me off early today." She looked to him in surprise as he nodded. "We are going much better then we though we would so a few hours shouldn't make too much of a different." Without word, she hugged her. Sapphire gasped as she juggled his tea in his hands so he wouldn't spill it, but laughed. After she fingered out what had taken place, she joined in with the laugh.  
  
The couple enjoyed the rest of the night there on the floor where they fell asleep in each other's arms. Sapphire never told her what blood he painted the walls with, but he didn't think it was necessary. He didn't want to upset her any more then he had already done. Hen enjoyed the last moment he would have with her before he departed to the village yet again.  
  
As soon as the sun made its way into the house, he was up. He took his loving wife into the bedroom where he covered her in cotton and not skins. She rolled over happily. He was very happy to see her young and gentle face before he left. This image of her sleeping was burned into him memory and would be there for the rest of his life. Not a flaw set on her face. Such fine skin and very soft it could have been the skin of a baby, but one the face of a fully machered 18 year old girl. Her brown locked set carefully on the pillow. He asked himself many times what might there children be like once they decided to have them. He would be happy now just with her beautiful face and fantasize of there to be beautiful children.  
  
He put on the white garments given to him by the high priest. All the priests ware them long with anyone that partook in this purification. He liked the outfit, save the sleeves. It was very conferrable and was warm for the growling bitter days.  
  
Before he left the house, he stacked some wood by the fire place so she wouldn't have to carry so much in come the evening. AS soon as that was done, he took to the temple where he would began his day with the old frail priest as he had done for a while now.  
  
The day went peacefully, as it did the other days till they came a pone the house of an old friend of his from school. Sapphire smiled as he looked to the door for a moment before knocking. He drought the man would know who he was. Regardless, he knocked on the door and stood back and waited with the old sage behind him. It opened and showed a young but very nervous woman there at the door.  
  
"We are here on behalf of the fall purification. Mind if we come in?" He said with a gentle smile. He didn't feel so well all of a sudden, but he didn't want to judge. He fingered there was another evil that needed to be destroyed in the house. He didn't realize how right he was.  
  
"Y.yes. Please come in." She opened the door wide and moved out of the way to let them pass. He came in and looked around. There was one other man setting not far from them. He was quite and hard his eyes closed as if he was sleeping or in thought. He didn't mind the blue haired man too much as he was busy making sure the priest was safely inside.  
  
"So, you are the priest of this province..?" The man asked. Sapphire looked the man in question. If the man just moved here or had been living here, he should know the priest by looking. After all, it wasn't hard to pick him out.  
  
The old man looked to the younger one setting in the chair in a slouch. Sapphire never saw the old man's eyes get so wide. His frail body reached for Sapphire and demanded his staff. "Tenko! How dare you.!" He yelled as loud as his old longs would let him. Sapphire went to hand the man his staff when his body went limp and feel to the ground. Sapphire dropped the staff and the small pouch of things the old man requested to come with him and needed to the floor and gently shock him.  
  
"Uasal-san! UASAL!!" he cried as he tried to wake the priest, but he didn't budge. He could hear the man behind him chuckle darkly as he stood up.  
  
"The old bug couldn't just die on his own, now could he?" He mocked. "It's a shame. If he was younger I wouldn't mind fighting him till the duel became boring." Fright came over Sapphire very quickly as he realize that the man put the priest to death by a mare glance. He didn't know what to do when he heard footsteps come progressively closer to him. The girl that stayed in the house was whimpering with tears but stayed as quite as she could and dared not to leave less she lose her life as well.  
  
"So, tell me your name, boy." He was about a yard away when he stopped and waited for an answer. Sapphire took a chance and stood to his feet and looked into the tanting red eyes of his former friend.  
  
"I am Sapphire, son of Emery." He replied as boldly as he could. He concealed his emotions inside him long enough to put on a front to whatever held his friend bond. It was working. What ever a 'tenko' was, it was taken by his boldness, but his cocky self never faded.  
  
"Well, I am guessing you have no idea who I am, do you?" Sapphire answered with a simple no to the fiend and hoped that he would answer him to buy some time for him to think. He was very fortunate this time around. "I am a soul eater; probably the best of my kind, feared by many though they have no way of stopping me. It is fasunating that most of our people never know that I am even within a body till I take another victim. You see, your priest friend here, poor soul, can since my small presents because of his line of work. And now you will take the blame even though your strong soul is very appetizing."  
  
With that, he stepped forwarded to approach Sapphire. Sapphire put out his hand, which was close enough to hit the man's chest, and yelled, "Stop!" the man froze in his place. A seal appeared on the floor and held him there. Sapphire looked in aw. He was surprised with himself more then anything. The man that was titled Tenko looked on in surprise as well.  
  
Breathing hard, and not trusting himself to let his hand down, he looked to the girl. "Hurry! Go get a few of the priest and bring them here!" She looked to him, scared to death and wouldn't budge. "Please!!" he bagged, looking at her in the eyes. "I don't know how long this will hold up for me! He will attack more people if you don't!" He yelled again. She picked her feet up, after some time, and ran out the door. It wasn't long before a group of three high ranking priests came running in. One came to the corpse of there fallen leader and was dearly graved while the other two looked to the present problem. Sapphire explained to them what had happened and the girl confirmed everything. Before long, one priest put a seal on the man's back and then another on his chest. One sealed away any powers while the other kept the soul from changing into another body.  
  
One of the priests looked to Sapphire and then bowed deeply. "We can't tell you the amplitude of this matter. If there was one of us going from door to door, we may have feel and he might have gotten away."  
  
"You can let go now," Another reposed to Sapphire. He looked to him and nodded again and let his hand away from the man's body. Being tighted in bond, the man didn't even try to get away. He didn't choose a very healthy or strong host.  
  
"I promise you will regret this, Sapphire!" The man yelled out as they lead him out. "I will sink my teeth into your soul one day! You have my word!" His voice faded as they took him away.  
  
Just before that last priest walked out Sapphire gently took the arm of him to gester him wanting to speak with the man before he left. He turned around and looked to the young working man. "Yes?"  
  
"What are you going to do with him?" he asked simply.  
  
"There is a mountain not far from here where this thing came from. We will probably put four seals down and chain him to the rocks so he can't escape." He answered him as he wiped a few tears from his eyes.  
  
"Why four?" He asked inquisitively.  
  
"Well, one for his soul to stay in the body. He could survive out side a host, but not for long. Releasing him into the air is just asking for trouble. The next is to keep his powers from interfering. The third it to keep his kind or any other kind from releasing him. Only a very powerful person can break this for the last seal insures and amplifies the other three." Sapphire nodded lightly as it all began to make since to him.  
  
"Thank you for explaining." He answered. "Hey, I know it's not much, but I am deeply graved about your father. If there is anything I ca-"  
  
"No," he said abruptly. "You have enough to worry about. It seems you are out of the job again." He answered almost bitterly as he left. Sapphire watched them go sadly. He had grown fond of the old man as well and felt bad for being there to witness a great man's death.  
  
Sapphire waited a moment till man came to take the body away. He left soon after that in remorse. It almost seemed the weather played on his emotions as the beautiful day turned cloudy. He was already late coming home, though he promised his wife he would be there. There was nothing that he could have done to get back any earlier; at lest he tries very hard to convince himself of that.  
  
He sighed heavily as he walked though the forest and thought over the day's events. Though his forehead was wrinkled, he smiled. He couldn't help but be happy to be embarrassed by his loving wife. She never judged him and would love him regardless of him losing another job. Matter of fact, he thought she would be happy to see him home more now.  
  
The smell of fresh made bread filled the air around him. That was one food she could make very well. It filled his lungs as he approached the house. The door, as always, was open to welcome him in. Just then, he felt a few drops of rain. He made his way to the house a bit faster. Once in, he shrugged the few drops on him before opening his mouth to annouse that he was home. Rather, this time he smiled and decided to find her and surprise her.  
  
As he walked though the house, she saw the bread setting on the cutting block to be sliced. This was a job she left to Sapphire. She could never cut straight. All the wood at the fireplace was spent and the fire was getting low. The rain was beginning to add a chill to the house. He saw the bedroom door slightly pen so he fingered she was in there.  
  
He quietly made it back to the door. He thought to get some wood before the fire was completely out and the wood was socked. Only the sound of the pouring rain was heard which was fine with him.  
  
When a green, he made his way to the back of the house where they kept the wood. The rain was cold but felt nice as it poured over his face. There was something about the rain he loved and enjoyed though he could never put his finger on it.  
  
What he found was something he was not expecting. Some wood was scattered around the wood pile and there among it was his flawless bride. She was fallen into the mud. The rain was making her dried blood there on the ground live again and painted it's self there like water color. In horror, he ran over to her and lifted her into his arm. Her cold body fell limp into his arms. Her sweet face was only tanted by the dirt and a small stain of blood on the corner of her mouth.  
  
His eyes clouded over with tears as he looked to her in fear. He slowly moved his hand down her neck to her chest where he feared the blow was taken. Sure enough there was a dagger still parsing her breast He did not want to look, but for her sake, he pulled the dagger out of her chest and tossed it to the ground. He felt as if the dagger was in his own heart and he was pulling it from there.  
  
He pulled her to his chest and wept bitterly. The rain did not sooth his soul but gave him the power to yell out and cry. Her new blood flushed over his wet garments, making them a soft flush of red.  
  
The world around him slowly faded away. There, the night set in and he went without food or rest for that matter. After the tears flushed there way out of his body, he sat with his back to the wood pile and her, still in his arms. His red dry eyes looked up at the weeping sky in a black numbing stair.  
  
Finally, he stood up and took his dear wife with him. In near denial, he laid her down on the floor near the dieing fire and placed a skin over her. Soon after, with a knot in his thought and returning water to quiche his eye's thirst he readied a rag. He came to her and cleaned her pale face.  
  
Soon after, he set himself in a chain in the middle of the room and waited. Only the hope of a miracle drove him to sit there and wait for her to get up. He didn't know where he went wrong. He didn't know what happened. Did some one kill her or did she comite suicide..? And if she did, why? Was him being gone so long that hard on her?  
  
Slowly, his tears brought him to sleep even though he was wet and cold. The fire soon died as did his hope. His nightmare came true. He painted the walls of him memory with her blood and now hated himself for it.  
  
The fallowing day was warmer and sunny. He slept late regardless of the uncountable position of the chair. He wanted nothing more then to wake up see everything as a dream that happened. He would have her by his side with her head resting on his shoulder in the bed they shared, but he woke up in the chair, cold and alone. By the fire place she lay, cold and gone. There was nothing he could do to warm her skin again.  
  
Regardless of his stiff neck and back he stood and pulled the make shift hoe from her gardening tools and walked down to the stream and started to dig. The dirt was soft from the night before. He couldn't understand how everything could be so happy with just deep sorrow in his heart. The sky couldn't be bluer, the stream couldn't be clear and the birds couldn't sing any happier. It drove him to anger. An emotion he tried very hard not show, but the feeling deep into his soul was now getting the better of him.  
  
The more he dug, the angrier he became till the hole was almost as deep as he was tall. The hole was high now. His back was to the soft wall of the put he created. It was another sudden realization that once he put her under he will never be able to see her again. At the same, he knew he had to do this.  
  
He came though the back door to retrieve her. Just as he came into the main corridors of the house he saw a man looking in from the front door. Sapphire pulled himself together and approached him.  
  
"Are you looking for some one?" He asked the man with as little breath as possible. The man smiled to him and nodded. He was a short man with dark hair and a small beard. He was a very strong man though with what seemed to be swollen hands showing that he worked with his mans a lot.  
  
"Ah, Sapphire! I was reminded of you and the little lady when the priest came around this morning." He said over cheerfully. Sapphire stepped back but put on a fake smile.  
  
"She's sleeping, and." He became shocked with words and slightly turned away from the small brawly man. The man smiled and patted him on the back.  
  
"Don't wake the lady." He took Sapphire's hand and set two beautiful gold clamps in his hand. "She had these made for you. I'm sorry I didn't get it to you two before now." Sapphire looked at the two round lips, holding back his tears as much as he could. His hear ranched in pain and the pain only released more the longer he stood there.  
  
The man saw the speechless look in his face. He took one from his hand and based one of his long stands of hair in front of his face and then pulled it though. "See?" He asked. "She saw some in the stock of a traveling sales man but couldn't afford it. She though they would look good on you." He laughed lightly before covering his mouth, remembering the tad bit about her sleeping. He lowered his voice. "She was right, they do sut you well."  
  
"Please," Sapphire said sharply as he clichéd the remaining charm in his hand, "You should be going. I have to attend to my wife."  
  
"Oh, yes." He said again with a laugh as he looked to the door. Sapphire walked close behind him to insure that he didn't turn back. He made it outside when he held a hand out. "If you need anything to help you, I will make it."  
  
"I shovel would have been nice this morning." He growled as he reached for the door.  
  
"Should I make one?" The man asked generously. "No charge."  
  
"No. I don't need one any more." With that he took the door and started to close it. "Thank you for the delivery. Give my parents my regards." And it was shut. He could hear a small, "your welcome" from the other side before the man left. Sapphire couldn't hold it any longer. He set his head on the door. Silent tears ran down his face. His gist wrapped around the charm tightly as he fell to his knees. His mouth was open in morning but said nothing. Only noise he made was the sudden breaths he had to take when he had to.  
  
By sunset he was finished. When he was coming in after bathing from the stream he stopped by the wood stack to take in for the night. It was a place he was avoiding for good reason, but he knew he couldn't freeze another night.  
  
As he came apon the since he noticed that the dagger he never saw the night before had a piece of paper on it. He bent down and picked up the dagger with the piece of battered paper on it. He dropped the dagger to the ground where it would set for years to come and dusted off the paper.  
  
"Dear Sapphire. We are here to report your wife is dead." He read out loud. "You decided to place with fire, and this time you have been burned." His eyes widened in fear. His hands shock lightly. "Let this be a burning reminder that you lost your wife because of your nosey error." He shock his head as he shoved the paper in his pocite and took up the fire wood.  
  
He started the fire, trying not to think about the not, but he was finding it hard not it. It taunted him as it lay there in his pocite, gently nudging him in the side. As he sat in the chair with no comfort but the fire, he gave into the temptation of the paper and pulled it out. As he read it again, there was almost a sigh of relief. She did not kill herself. That ease was ripped away him when he though about the words of the letter. It was signed by the followers of Tenko, the man he helped put away.  
  
He kneeled his head and looked to the floor and though with no tears. He felt his heart become numb He felt something star inside him, wanting to get out. It was beginning to eat away at him. He concealed it so long. The town's people tried to bring it out, that beast trying to. Now it was coming out on its own. He felt too week to keep it locked away any longer.  
  
He took the charms that where given to him and set them on the small table in front of him along with the battered note. He soon stood up and stood and went into the kitchen where the bread, stale by now, waited to be sliced. He took the loaf made for two and broke it with his hands. He set one half down as he left for the room without word. In there, he picked at the bread. Though he had not eaten all day he didn't seem very hungry. The bread was good, no drought. The middle was still fresh and undisturbed by the outside air till now.  
  
He prepared for bed, as he did every night. He took up a book he had been reading and sat and read it till the sun light was gone, as he did every night. He nibbled on the bread till his eyes became tired, but tonight the bread felt tasteless to his tongs. The bed was cold with no one beside him. Everything had changed and would stay this way for many years.  
  
And the years did go by. Sapphire refused to go back to the village. Rare occasions would arise where people would come visit the hermit. He did his bet to avoid them. It wasn't that he didn't keep himself up. On the contrary, he kept himself very well. He just didn't want to talk. When people did meet with him they would often ask where Cygnus was. He would always reply with, "She's sleeping," or "She's not in." Both where very truthful answers though they did not take it in the same way as he did.  
  
Before long, they stopped coming all together.  
  
After evenings where he wouldn't eat much, he would sit by the grave and smile to the hand made cross made from sticks and rope. He would talk to the grave till his eye bleed sorrow once again. In odd way he seemed to be at peace when he talked to the dead tree and firming ground. No one else was there to listen. In this way, he kept her alive in his heart. In this way she wasn't dead though in his mind he knew that there where only bones below that once hole.  
  
He lived like this for a short ten years. The longer he pulled himself into this dark depressing hole of self pity the more powerful this helpless piece in his mind had become. He was slowly being devoured by the very man that would soon have his life in his gasp. Ten years before he might have cared, but he had stopped struggling.  
  
One evening, in the winter, he was looking to the fire when he noticed the battered note under the hair pieces. The hair pieces where mostly made out of gold, so they did not tarnish much, while the parts of the silver where nearly black with time. He didn't have it in him to pick them up, so he did something that he did many of night. He leaned back in the chair and feel asleep while the flames there where still very lively.  
  
That night he had a hazed dream. One he couldn't make out, but in his gut he knew. Something was pulling him out of the cabin. He didn't know why. He was left with this felling in the morning as well. He wanted to walk away from the cabin, even if he returned to it empty handed.  
  
He sat up in the chair and looked to the two charms and the note under it. He reached his hand over it to take it but pulled his hand back. The three remanded there motionless. He shook his head and grasped them quickly before he walked away and regretted not to.  
  
Before long he was geared up in skins and boots to travel in the snow with. The sun was just over the mountain peeks. He gave a gentle smile to the cabin when he was a distance a ways from it. Something told him that he wouldn't be back for a while. He grasped the charms in him hands knowing that he would not leave her behind.  
  
By noon he has made it to the base of the mountain. The cold rock looked like steal with the ice frozen over it. It pleased him to see such things again. The snow pilled just right under a tree to give its 'feet' less snow to worry about to make them cold. He loved to see the rabbit's brown fur all molted off to give it a beautiful white cute to protect him from the foxes. It was a great mystery to see them do so well. He had sometimes wondered if he would have been better off with a short life of a rabbit.  
  
As he kept walking he came a pon a most frightening finger in the snow. He couldn't help the body tapped by the ice and snow now. He seemed dead. His curiosity took the best of him all the same. He swept away some of the snow to reveal the man's face. The poor man had a chilling and painful looking blue skin with deep blue hair to match. AS he uncovered more he noticed the man had less then efficient clothing to come out in this weather like this. Clothing like this should be worn in the fall. As he kept digger he noticed stands around his wrists and ankles. Sapphire quickly looked back to the man's face and gasped as he staggered back.  
  
"Th.at." He mumbled out. The frozen head moved and the seem to be dead eyes opened and looked to the man. His eyes where just as red as Sapphire remembered them to be.  
  
Oh. The man said though thought. It's you again. Sapphire as astonished that this man could still be living after so many years of being changed to the mountain side. Let me free.  
  
"No!" He yelled back. "No!" He repeated with a growl. "Your followers killed my wife! I am glad you didn't die! Death is too good for what you have done."  
  
Much worse can still happen. Just let me free and you will never see me again. He tried again. Sapphire shock his head as he started to walk off. His ocean blue eyes glared deeply at the man.  
  
"Go fine another fool to let you free. There is nothing more that you can do to me." He clichéd his fist tightly. Without warning from even himself he charged over to the man and punched him in the face. He could hear the crack of a frozen jaw shatter and his head hit the wall behind him. This was a very unlikely behavior from Sapphire, but he could care less at the moment.  
  
After that, he felt better. He smirked as he turned his back to the frozen finger as he walked away.  
  
You will regret this! I will have my revenge on you! He yelled in vain.  
  
"Regret." He snorted as he waked along. "Regret what? I have nothing to regret then getting that stupid job and leaving her alone." He said bitterly. His hand opened up to show the two charms in the note. His bitterness malted and his body relaxed a little. A small smile tainted his face as he studied the charms.  
  
He stopped when he heard footsteps in front of him. His eyes looked from the hair pieces to what was in front of him. A tall man towered over him. All his hair as slicked back and down his dark shoulders. As black as he might be, Sapphire felt his soul was blacker. His heart pound hard into his chest as he stepped back. The man, without word or introduction smirked.  
  
"M.May I pass?" Sapphire asked meekly.  
  
"After I retrieve what I need. If you are still standing when I am done you can pass." He said low in his voice but with vain confidence.  
  
"I have nothing to offer you, sir." Sapphire tried to explane. "I don't have any money or any valuables one me at this moment."  
  
"You do, you just don't know it." He commented again soon after Sapphire finished. "I don't have time for small talk." His hand rose till his palm faced Sapphire's face. Energy from the forest started to give to his hand. Sapphire felt a tug in his head. Anxiety sorrowed in him. He stepped away from the dark man but his lags would not move for him. "I have to thank you. Your strong emotions drew me to you. And then you weakened yourself. It couldn't be easier then this."  
  
Sapphire felt his lags clappas under him. The world around him blurred in out as his head became incessantly painful. The frightening thought came to mind. He was going to die. Just as fast as that thought came, yet another one fallowed. His hand squeezed the charms. Pain filled tears that had the razudu of joy came to him. He pulled his resistant away and fall into the snow.  
  
But the pain stopped and another voice came to his ears.  
  
"My lord, please don't kill him!" Cried a female voice. The man looked to the blue haired girl in disbelief.  
  
"There is no other options, Dolphin." But her painful yell increased as she switched back and forth from a painful screech and a stubborn stomp of the foot for her own way. No one really knew how to deal with Deep Sea after she lost her mind and this man did not want to deal with her at all, so he gave in. "Do what you like with him, but the shard is still mine." He demanded.  
  
"Oh, thank you daddy!" She said gleefully and hugged him before parsing off in the snow for her new prize. The dark man looked baffled for a moment before looking back to the man laying in the snow.  
  
"End it." Sapphire muttered.  
  
"End what, dear?" She asked the cheerful.  
  
Sapphire searched his arms out lightly, holding the charms tightly in his hand. "The pain." He finished. She looked to the man's hand. Her smile faded quickly as she realized that he would not be a toy.  
  
Before long the shard imbedded in the back of his head was taken out. Sapphire bled from the back of the head. It almost insured a slow death. The snow slowly stained and then slowly malt by the new warm liquid. The woman, having a heart, placed a hand over the open wound and tried to stop it.  
  
The dark man walked over to her and knelt down beside her. "If you want him to live, you have to kill him first." His cold ruby eyes looked into her river blue eyes. They where filled with Sapphire's sorrow for he could barley feel anything at this point.  
  
His ruby eyes looked away from hers and looked back to the man. He set a hand on his head and started to take his memories from him. He didn't want any residents under his ranks so he made sure he would never remember this. It was unlike him to be so nice to a victim. He took his hand away and simply stopped the man's heart for a moment. It was more so for the tender hearted and confused mind of the lady that called him daddy. There was no telling what she might have done if he took any more joy in this boy's death.  
  
He used the same frame of body for the new mazoku for the simple reason that he was becoming existed from being out in this overworld too long. As soon as he was done, he stood and looked to the tan skinned man and the woman.  
  
"Finished. Do what you want with him" He commanded before vanishing from sight with nothing to say he was there but his foot prints.  
  
She looked to him sadly knowing he just had everything ripped from him. She had no idea what kind of person he was so she had no idea what kind of mazoku he would become. She though that she should tell him from the start that he had an overworlder's heart and mind but something stopped her.  
  
She looked back to his clichéd hand. She took it and opened it gently and watched the three items fall from it. She smiled lightly as she looked to the charms and then his hair, but the smile faded as she saw the note. She picked it up and read only to have a few tears come down her face. Her eyes made it back to the man with understanding.  
  
"This is your pain." She whispered. "Don't worry. You have no more pain with me. You will become my general and will no longer have this pain." She crumbled up the paper and let it in the snow to die with this man's memories. The remanded hair pieces lay in her hand. Gently she turned over the new born mazoku and placed the charms in his hair. She brushed his bangs back and looked to him with a gentle smile. He would become something special to her. She, in an odd way, felt like a mother and would treat him both like a lord and a mother regardless of her bursts of insanity.  
  
Sapphire vanished from that village never to be seen again. The only thing that gave witness to this was the trees and Sapphire's loved snow bunny. Deep Sea didn't know the man's name so she named him after herself: Deelaphin. As they would have guessed, he never missed his life but that was because he had no memory. Dolphin didn't have the heart to tell him either.  
  
In a way, he gave up the wings of his overworlder blood for a barrel at sea. With this his heart was content with. 


End file.
